Ayreon

Ayreon will be releasing a brand-new sprawling and epic studio album ‘Transitus,’ on 25th September via Music Theories Recordings. From the mastermind of Dutch multi-instrumentalist Arjen Lucassen, 'Transitus' is inspired by supernatural movies such as The Others, The Changeling and Ghost along with the music of soundtrack composers John Carpenter (Halloween), Ennio Morricone (Once upon a Time in the West) and Jerry Goldsmith (Omen). 'Transitus' is narrated by one of the most iconic and recognizable voices in sci-fi history, most known from his eight-year stint as Doctor Who, Tom Baker. As with any Ayreon album, it is an explosive and expansive affair and features Tommy Karevik (Kamelot) as Daniel and Cammie Gilbert (Oceans of Slumber) as Abby. The all-star cast also features Simone Simons (Epica), Dee Snider (Twisted Sister), Joe Satriani, Marty Friedman, Johanne James (Threshold), Noa Gruman (Scardust), Marcela Bovio (MaYan), Caroline Westendorp (The Charm The Fury), Paul Manzi (Arena), Micheal Mills (Toehider) and Amanda Somerville (Avantasia, Trillium) amongst many others.

Metal's artisan of ambitiousness Arjen Anthony Lucassen returns with his project Ayreon taking time off from his other musical projects Star One, Guilt Machine and The Gentle Storm to embark on yet another sonic journey into the world of science fiction, where he unleashes yet another concept album that is a prequel to 2008's "01011001" laid out in his usual monstrosity of a double album with an army of guest vocalists and musicians to play the proper roles in his larger than life metal operas. As a prequel, The Source tells the origins of the Forever which is an alien race that is a key force in the overall storyline. While Ayreon is accustomed to mostly new cast members changing things up on any given album, The Source makes use of plenty of returning performers which include James LaBrie (Dream Theater), Simone Simons (Epica), Floor Jansen (Nightwish), Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian)…

For the 20th anniversary, Arjen Lucassen remixed the audio to 21st century standards. He made it clear that it's a 'remix', not a 'remaster', saying "Remastering takes 2 hours, this remix took me 2 months!".
Into the Electric Castle is an epic prog rock opera from Dutch guitarist Arjen Lucassen. The sci-fi story centers around eight strangers brought together into a dimension of no space and no time. The characters in the story are played by varying lead singers, including former Marillion frontman Fish. The supporting cast is a who's who of proggers, which translates into superb musicianship. The story is standard sci-fi fare, but winds up being quite effective with the accompanying score. The massive coordination of such a large project is admirable, but to pull it off with such impressive results is stunning…

Over four nights at Tilburg's 013 venue (scene of the Ayreon Universe series of live shows in 2017) Lucassen, his band and one of modern progressive music's most emphatic of casts celebrated the 20th anniversary of the third Ayreon album in front of thousands of adoring fans who had flown in from around the world. Originally released in 1998, 'Into The Electric Castle' is a classic tale of an epic quest. Set in 'no time and no space', it tells the story of eight individuals who are guided by a mysterious voice and tasked with finding the mysterious Electric Castle and discover what's inside. The entire album was performed live, featuring original album singers and musicians, such as Thijs Van Leer, Fish, Damian Wilson, Edward Reekers, Anneke van Giersbergen, and several special guests including Simone Simons (Epica) and Star Trek's John De Lancie as narrator. The 'Other Tales' are deep cuts from Arjen Lucassen's other projects, such as The Gentle Storm, Ambeon, Stream of Passion, Guilt Machine, Star One, his solo-album Arjen Anthony Lucassen and a very special Marillion cover. Step into the Electric Castle!

Ayreon's second full length output is a quite unique piece of music from this project. For the first and last time, the Dutch mastermind Arjen Lucassen decided to not invite a high number of guest musicians but did something like a solo project where he played all instruments and invited one main singer as well as one supplementary vocalist. The project feels more like a band in here and this album sounds quite homogenous. The the individual songs are based on fantasy and sci-fi movies, or on stories Arjen wrote himself. It's also the project's shortest full length release and gets quickly to the point.

The brand new album THE SOURCE explores the origins of the mythical Ayreon saga, while once again offering a stellar cast of singers and musicians. The singers on 'The Source' are James LaBrie (Dream Theater), Tommy Karevik (Kamelot), Tommy Rogers (Between The Buried And Me), Simone Simons (Epica), Nils K Rue (Pagan s Mind), Tobias Sammet (Avantasia), Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian), Michael Mills (Toehider), Russell Allen (Symphony X), Michael Eriksen (Circus Maximus), Floor Jansen (Nightwish) and Zaher Zorgati (Myrath). Special guest instrumentalists on 'The Source' are Paul Gilbert, Guthrie Govan, Marcel Coenen and Mark Kelly.

Elected is the first EP by progressive metal project Ayreon, owned by Dutch musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen. It features the guest performance of German singer Tobias Sammet, from Avantasia and Edguy. The EP contains an Alice Cooper cover, an acoustic guitar and voice version of "E=MC²" and the track "Ride the Comet", both from the album 01011001. There is also a piano version of The Human Equation's "Day Six: Childhood". Some reviewers and also the CD-Text information on the CD itself call the EP The Universal Ayreonaut. The album entered at #69 at the France Singles Top 100 and stayed in that position for three weeks.